Score 26 Lower 30 Days After My $6,400 Balance Transfer: A 90-Day Log

On August 5, 2026, thirty days after I applied to move $6,400 of card debt to a 0% card, my score read 668. The morning I applied it had read 694. I hadn't missed a payment or put a new charge on any card, and the number was 26 lower.

The log runs 90 days. It has four readings, each the same FICO Score version on Experian's file and each taken beside a fresh copy of the report.

• Day 0, Monday, July 6: 694
• Day 30, Wednesday, August 5: 668
• Day 60, Friday, September 4: 689
• Day 90, Sunday, October 4: 701

On July 6, before I applied, the file held two credit cards and no other revolving accounts. The old card, opened in January 2019, had an $8,000 limit and reported a $6,400 balance. The second, opened in January 2022, had a $4,000 limit and reported zero.

The old card was 80.0 percent used (6,400 divided by 8,000) and the file as a whole 53.3 percent (6,400 divided by 12,000). Counting calendar months from the month each account opened, the old card was 90 months old and the second 54, an average of 72 months. There were no hard inquiries in the previous twelve months.

I had paid off nothing and owed $275.20 more than the week before, to a different lender.

Two changes on the Day 30 report had nothing to do with balances. The first was a third account, opened July 2026. Before it, 90 plus 54 made 144 months across two accounts, an average of 72. On the day it opened, the same 144 months were spread across three accounts, an average of 48. My average age of accounts went from six years to four in a day, though my oldest account was still 90 months old. By the August report each account was a month older, and 147 months across three is 49.

The Day 30 report had me owing $13,075.20. The debt that day was $6,675.20, all of it on the new card.

By Day 60 the old card's August 10 statement had reported zero. I had made my first $600 payment on the new card that same day, so its August 20 statement showed $6,075.20, and the report matched what I owed. The new card stood at 6,075.20 on 7,500, or 81.0 percent, a shade above the 80.0 percent my old card showed on Day 0. Overall it was 6,075.20 on 19,500, or 31.2 percent, against 53.3 on Day 0.

The score that day read 689. On Day 90, after a second $600, the new card reported $5,475.20, which is 73.0 percent of its own limit and 28.1 percent of the total. The score read 701, against 694 on Day 0. The plain average age was 51 months.

The only sourced statement I can attach to the later readings is in the myFICO utilization article, which says that "as soon as you lower your ratio" FICO Scores "respond accordingly", without the lingering effects it attributes to late payments. That is a statement about utilization. It sets no timetable, and it says nothing about the new account or the inquiry. Four readings can't tie my Day 90 number to the transfer.

The delinquency exception, 1026.55(b)(4), allows a higher rate when the issuer has not received the required minimum payment "within 60 days after the due date for that payment." In the official interpretation's example the minimum is due March 15 and the sixtieth day is May 14: received that day, the exception "does not apply", and received on May 15 it would. The exception carries two conditions. The notice, sent under 1026.9(c) or (g), has to state clearly and conspicuously the reason and that the higher rate stops applying if the issuer receives six consecutive minimum payments on time, starting with the first one due after the higher rate takes effect. If those six arrive, the issuer must go back to the earlier rate "with respect to transactions that occurred prior to or within 14 days after provision of" the notice. I have not gone through the other exceptions in 1026.55(b), and late fees are not covered here.

With the old card at zero, the tidy move was to close it. On Day 90 I owed $5,475.20 against $19,500 of limits, or 28.1 percent. Close the old card and its $8,000 limit leaves the calculation: $5,475.20 against $11,500 is 47.6 percent. The debt is the same and the overall ratio is 19.5 percentage points higher, on paperwork alone. The myFICO utilization article describes the mechanism: "Closing a credit card takes away its available credit".

I kept it open at a zero balance, and on Day 90 the file still showed $19,500 of limits.

The $275.20 fee is easier to judge beside an interest cost. The comparison below is an illustration, and it uses neither my old card's actual rate nor my actual payoff path.

That overstates what someone paying a balance down would be charged, because interest falls as the balance does, and it assumes nothing is left when the 0% period ends. It is a rough ceiling for this example, and it does not record what I saved. My plan is $600 a month, which clears $6,675.20 in twelve payments, eleven of $600 and a last one of $75.20, in July 2027. The 15 months run to October 2027.

The reports document five changes on my file: a new account, a plain average age that went from 72 months to 48, one hard inquiry, a new card at 89.0 percent of its limit, and on Day 30 the same debt on two cards at once. The score read 26 lower while all of that was showing, and I can't divide the 26 among them. None of this is financial or legal advice.

The duplicate balance cleared when the old card's next statement reported, and the new card's ratio went from 89.0 percent to 73.0 because I paid $1,200. The inquiry and the new account are still on the file, and by myFICO's figures the inquiry comes off the report in July 2028. That is nine months after the 0% rate ends in October 2027. On my plan the last $75.20 goes to the new card in July 2027.

1. Why is my credit score lower after a balance transfer?

On the file in this log, the Day 30 report differed from the Day 0 report in several ways. A new account had taken the plain average age from 72 months to 48, one hard inquiry had been added, the new card reported 89.0 percent of its limit, and for that one reading both cards reported the debt. The score read 26 lower while those were showing, and I can't assign the difference to any one change.

2. How many points does a balance transfer cost?

The pages cited here give no number for a transfer as a whole. The only figure myFICO gives for any piece of it is that, for most people, one additional credit inquiry takes "less than five" points off their FICO Scores. It also says the exact impact of a single factor cannot be measured without the entire report, so any figure for the new account or the utilization would be a guess.

3. How long does a balance transfer show in a credit score?

myFICO says FICO Scores consider inquiries only from the last 12 months, though they stay on the report for two years. A myFICO article from February 2022 says FICO Scores respond as soon as a utilization ratio is lower. Neither says a score returns to an earlier reading, and I found no primary source that gives a timetable.

4. Does one late payment cancel a 0% balance transfer rate?

Regulation Z's delinquency exception, 12 CFR 1026.55(b)(4), applies when the issuer has not received the required minimum payment within 60 days after its due date. In the official interpretation's example, a minimum due March 15 and received on May 14, the sixtieth day, means the exception does not apply. Where it does, the issuer must go back to the earlier rate, for transactions made before the notice or within 14 days after it, once it receives six consecutive on-time minimum payments, starting with the first one due after the higher rate took effect. Late fees and the other exceptions in 1026.55(b) are not covered here.

5. Should I close the old card after transferring the balance?

On this file, closing the old card on Day 90 would have taken overall utilization from 28.1 percent to 47.6 percent with no change in debt, and I left it open. A myFICO article says closing a credit card takes away its available credit. Experian says closed accounts that aren't past due generally remain on credit reports for up to 10 years.

6. Can I use the new card for purchases during the 0% period?

Under 12 CFR 1026.53(a), a payment above the minimum goes first to the balance with the highest annual percentage rate, so by my inference the extra would go to purchases at the regular rate before the 0% balance. The CFPB's October 2023 report says cardholders who make purchases on a card carrying a transferred balance typically get no grace period on them, though some issuers allow one.

7. What does a balance transfer fee usually cost?

The CFPB's December 2025 report to Congress gives an average fee of 4.3 percent of the transferred balance among the largest 25 card issuers in the second half of 2024, and 3.9 percent for 2022. On $6,400 that is $275.20. The CFPB's consumer answer says a card company is permitted to charge the fee on a zero percent rate offer.